During the course of a surgical operation on a patient, it is often necessary to remove from the site of the operation various body fluids including blood, clots and other viscid fluids which tend to collect at the operation site. Removal of such body fluids is generally accomplished using an aspirator connected to a source of vacuum to draw the fluids through a suitable tube for deposit into a collection receptacle.
Body fluid storage and collection receptacles for use in such systems are well known in the art. Typically, such receptacle assemblies include a receptacle and a cover which are secured together with a leak tight seal. Two connections are provided in the cover, including a vacuum port for being connected by a tube or other suitable connection to a source of vacuum, for example, a vacuum pump or hospital vacuum outlet station. The other connection comprises a fluid receiving port which is connected through a drainage tube to the surgical operating site on a patient.
In such suction receptacle assemblies, the ports contained within the cover are often closed by caps to prevent contaminants from entering the receptacle prior to the receptacle's interconnection to the vacuum source and drainage tube. Such port caps are also used to close the ports after the receptacle has been filled with fluids to permit transportation of the filled receptacle for discarding or emptying. Additionally, a pour spout port may be provided in the cover, also requiring a cap for closure.
Heretofore such caps have been attached to the receptacle cover using a single flexible plastic restraining line. However, this attachment technique permits the port caps to hang or dangle from the receptacle cover and thus to enter the interior of the receptacle when the cover is being affixed to the receptacle. In the course of assemblying the cover to the receptacle, the port covers catch between the receptacle cover and the receptacle to interfere and prevent the formation of a fluid tight seal between the receptacle cover and receptacle. Further, the closing of the receptacle cover and receptacle sometimes serrates the restraining line and port covers are thereby severed from the receptacle cover and lost. Therefore, the ports cannot be closed to maintain the fluid within the receptacle.
Prior art port cap attachment systems are difficult to manufacture in that the port cap and restraining line are typically molded from plastic together with the receptacle cover in a continuous flow stream. This results in the port cap mold not receiving sufficient plastic material resulting in inadequate plastic injection, termed "short shots", resulting in defective caps. As there is only one point of entry for the plastic material to enter the cap mold cavity, it is difficult to supply enough plastic material to completely fill the mold cavity to mold the cap.
A need has thus arisen for a receptacle cover-port cap attachment system for use in a suction receptacle for preventing port caps from interfering with the seal between the receptacle cover and receptacle and the inadvertent serration of the restraining line from the receptacle cover. A need has further arisen for a port cap attachment system to enable uniform molding of the receptacle cover, restraining line and port cap to avoid short shots in the molding process.